Cincinnati Black Restaurant Week: My Rundown

What a week it was! I, along with the rest of Cincinnati, have been gearing up for what will be one of the craziest and exciting times of the year. Before all of that, I needed to take some me time and go down home before reality sets in: the week before Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, 1st of the month...yeah, you see where I'm going with this!

The second annual Cincinnati Black Restaurant Week was a time for our Black owned restaurants to showcase and represent the down home goodness of the Cincy food scene without leaving the 'Nati. Most important, this was a time to support Black businesses and to show Cincy our rich black heritage. So much to choose from with so little time, but the joints that I visited somehow spoke to me. Everyone of them did not disappoint!

I won't say too much about these (I'll save that for future posts!), but you can take a look, salivate, and decide for yourself!

Day1: $9.00 buffet, Ollie's Trolley

Day 2: Jerk Fish sandwich, plantains, and ginger punch, Island Frydays

Day 3: Buckeye Basket, K & J Seafood

Day 4: Judas (chicken) plate, Just Q'In

Day 5: $5.99 Catfish plate with Red Beans and Rice and Peach Cobbler, Goodie's

Public Art to Celebrate a Cincinnati Heroine

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the "Public Art to Celebrate a Cincinnati Heroine" forum at the Woman's City Club of Greater Cincinnati to learn about the soon to be first ever Cincinnati statue celebrating a woman: civil rights icon Marian A. Spencer. This organization is spearheading a fundraising campaign to build and install the statue, slated to be installed and make its appearance on what would have been Spencer's 100th birthday June 28, 2020 at the Women's Committee Garden at Smale Riverfront Park, facing the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge.

Spencer was a woman of many firsts- first African American female elected to Cincinnati City Council, first female president of the Cincinnati chapter of the NAACP, and the first African American president of the Woman's City Club of Greater Cincinnati.

Her big hurrah came July 1952. Her two young sons were watching The Uncle Al Show on T.V. as he invited children to Coney Island waterpark to meet him in person. The boys asked her to take them to the waterpark to meet Uncle Al. At first, Spencer was hesitant, but she ultimately made the call. When the Coney Island rep answered, Spencer told her about the invitation and wanted to know if that extended to Negro children. The rep said that it did not. Mama Spencer wasn't having that! Spencer then shows up at the entrance and was stopped and turned away by an armed guard. She filed a lawsuit and won, desegregating Coney Island.

 At the meeting, biographer Dot Christenson showed a twelve minute clip of an interview with Spencer, and Jenny Ustick, professor in the Public Art and Placemaking Department at the University of Cincinnati discussed the role of public art plays in Cincinnati, memorials,  and representation of women (FYI: Ustick also designed both the James Brown and Ezzard Charles murals in Over the Rhine!).

The final two speakers of the night, Tom Tsuchiya, known for his statues at Great American Ball Park, and apprentice and co-sculptor Gina Erardi, who also collaborated with Ustick on the Ezzard Charles mural, are collaborating on the project.

Commissioned by the club, the statue itself was inspired by her children motivating Spencer to become a civil rights activist. Spencer is depicted as vice-mayor in 1984. The girl is a composite of the four Winton Hills Academy students who won a national contest for a book that they wrote about her. The boy was inspired by Erardi's employer's son. The work is allegorical as the children depicted are meant to represent all children.

The coolest thing about this: It will be interactive. The images will join hands and an empty space is intentionally left between Spencer and the boy so that visitors can join in!

So excited about this! Right now, I'm like a kid at Christmas! Hurry up and let June 2020 come!

Kombuchinnati

For most of my life, I have suffered some minor health issues, including seasonal allergies, and given my family history of cardiovascular disease, I have been looking for safe and organic ways to maintain good health. On one of my weekly trips to Findlay Market in 2016, I stumbled upon something that was way out of my comfort zone but hot and happening: kombucha. I stopped by what used to be DIRT Market and checked out a cold brew coffee kombucha by Fab Ferments (they have a tap room in Lockland!). I was so blown away by how awesome this is--right balance of sweet and tart.

For those who don't know, kombucha is a fermented probiotic tea that dates back 2000 years to Ancient China. As a probiotic soda, people drink it to improve digestive and immune health (80% of our immune system is located in our digestive tract).

Fast forward to Summer 2019. I buy a new brand called Kombuchinnati, and for me, this hits a very sweet spot. There are flavors such as Original, Ginger Pie, and my favorite, Berry Medley.

In October during BLINK, I finally meet the owner Ione Sally while trying a coffee cold brew. He is very passionate for what he does, and the brutha has a very inspiring story. Loved the cold brew, so I tried to convince him to do a matcha kombucha! So excited for what he will put out next!

Kombucha has great benefits, but one downside to this is that if kept warm for too long, it could overferment and increase alcohol content, so I used both bottles of the kombucha that I bought this weekend as a marinade for chicken.

That said, the recipe for Kombuchinnati Chicken with Honey Pepper Sauce


Kombuchinnati Chicken with Honey Pepper Sauce

Any part of chicken (I used chicken wings)

Two bottles of Ginger Pie Kombuchinnati

Salt

Sugar

Pepper

Margarine or Olive Oil


1. Bring water in saucepan to a boil. Remove from burner to cool for about 5 minutes.

2.  Remove chicken from package and transfer to a glass baking dish.

3. Transfer cool water to glass baking dish. With chicken in the dish, pour water so it covers just enough of the chicken.

4. Add salt and sugar and let brine overnight.

5. Remove chicken from the first brine, discard, and wash glass dish. Transfer chicken in cleaned glass dish and pour both bottles of kombucha and let marinade in the refrigerator for eight more hours.


6. Transfer chicken to clean plate and discard kombucha marinade. Pat chicken dry.

7.  Transfer chicken back to washed glass dish and oil with margarine or olive oil. Season with black   pepper.

8. Preheat oven to 400°. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.

9. If you like, remove the chicken and baste the honey pepper sauce (recipe below) onto the chicken. Place back in oven for 20 minutes.

10. Remove chicken from oven and let rest for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Honey Pepper Sauce

1/2 cup of local honey

2 1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cayenne pepper


Combine all ingredients.

Our Bruthas in Arms

Happy Veterans Day to all! As the forecast calls for a wintry mix starting later this afternoon, I had to make my way down to Smale Riverfront Park to pay homage to our bruthas in arms-The Black Brigade of Cincinnati.

Organized in 1862, the Black Brigade of Cincinnati was among the first African Americans to be hired for military defense in the Union. Initially the blacks asked if they could volunteer to fight in the Civil War, but the city of Cincinnati refused their request as the city said that "this was a white man's war".

 Maj Gen Lew Wallace, who wanted to enlist the help of the city's black workers, was very upset with the local police's mishandling and the maltreatment of blacks overall, so he put Col. William M Dickson in charge, who then put out the call for black soldiers. In September 1862, 700 volunteers  finally reported for duty and took their place in the war. Under Dickson, the brigade got their own flag, were paid $13 per month and received other privileges, including the right to visit their families.

In 2012, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution declaring the Black Brigade of Cincinnati as veterans.

In September 2012, on the 150th anniversary of the 1862 defense of Cincinnati, the Black Brigade monument was dedicated, which included the names of all 700 members.


Thanks to our veterans, active military, and their families for all that they contribute to our freedom.

A Friend in High Places: Happy Birthday, Ted Berry!

Hey, Cincy Massive (that's people in Jamaican slang)! Welcome to November! After a business lunch Friday, I decided to have some me time, Skechers® and all, and go down towards the Ohio River and walk east along Eastern Avenue to the Theodore Berry International Friendship Park.

This park was named after Theodore M. (Ted) Berry, Cincinnati's first African American mayor from 1972-1975. He was born November 5, 1905 in Maysville, Kentucky and was the class valedictorian of Woodward High School. He was also the first African American to hold that honor in Cincinnati. In his senior year, he won an essay contest with an entry submitted under the pseudonym Thomas Playfair after an all-white panel had rejected his initial entry. Berry worked at steel mills in Newport, Kentucky, to pay tuition at the University of Cincinnati and then at its law school.

From 1947 to 1961, Berry served on the NAACP Ohio Committee for Civil Rights Legislation where he worked on equal employment and fair housing issues. He was also involved with the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati.

In 1960, Berry acted as President John F Kennedy's personal advisor to Nigeria as the country gained its independence.

In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson appointed Berry to head the Office of Economic Opportunity's Community Action Programs that included Head Start, the Job Corps and Legal Services. Berry returned to Cincinnati in 1969 and was appointed to City Council in 1971. He was elected mayor in 1972 and served for four years as Cincinnati's first African-American mayor.

Berry died October 15, 2000, just weeks shy of his 95th birthday. He is interred at Spring Grove Cemetery.

The park, inspired by a child's friendship bracelet, was completed in 2003, and is an award winning collection of sculpture and flora representing six of the seven continents of the world. Various artists and landscapers from Cincinnati and Cincinnati sister cities of Munich, Germany, Nancy, France, Harare, Zimbabwe, Gifu, Japan, Kharkiv, Ukraine, Liuzhou, China, and New Taipei, Taiwan collaborated on these pieces. The sections of the park are divided into gardens, representing the flora and fauna of each continent. Walking through this urban wonderland really transported me on a cruise without leaving the 'Nati.

In addition to the park, two other monuments exists in this city-Ted Berry Way at The Banks entertainment and dining district and the Theodore M Berry Head Start center in the West End.

The walk from the Banks to the park takes about half an hour using the Ohio River Trail, but if you are up for a good walk, hey, go for it!

 

 

 

 

 

Castle of Air

Castle of Air

Castle of air (interior)

Story Circle

baobab tree

Hands of the Lands

Seven Vessels, Ascending/Descending

Chinese Scholar Stone